


Snap/Chat/

by spideraudrey



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien 'She's just a friend' Agreste, Comedy, DJWifi, F/M, I accidentally made the lunch meme reference before it was a meme??, Identity Reveal, Marinette 'I've gotta get lunch' Dupain-Cheng, Reveal, Slow Burn, Snapchat, Snapchat filter reveal, Trip to the Zoo, Zoo, and im so proud of myself honestly, ish, look its an animan reference
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-01-22 20:00:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12489692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spideraudrey/pseuds/spideraudrey
Summary: Based on my friend's text post "im sure this has been mentioned before but I bet in the Miraculous Ladybug universe they have a snapchat filter that gives you a ladybug and chat noir maskand wouldn't that be some kinda reveal"Marinette and Adrien are revealed through Snapchat, all because Alya is the selfie-queen.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> heres my friends post if you wanna go reblog that! http://summermon.tumblr.com/post/166731476672/im-sure-this-has-been-mentioned-before-but-i-bet
> 
> also I wrote this on my phone in a very short amount of time so please excuse any grammatical errors lmao

Marinette should have known better than to grow complacent with her secret. She was so used to it by now, so sure she had everything under control, she didn’t think twice when Alya lets out an excited little squeal. “Oh girl! You have /got/ to come over and take a selfie with me!”

She rolls her eyes at her best friends antics, but plops down on her chaise lounge next to the girl anyway. “What, do you just look that good right now?” She teases, knowing as comfortable as Alya is with being on camera, she’s definitely more well known for being behind it. It’s only on days that she’s feeling extra confident does she take the time for selfies.

“Well, yes, obviously Mari. I always look this good though.” A glance at Alya’s phone shows Marinette that she has Snapchat pulled up and merely assumes she’s chatting with Nino. The pair have yet to make anything “official” but they’ve been talking nonstop and Marinette knows it’s only a matter of time before Alya ends up asking him out. Either way, she grins, facing the phone screen to appease her friend.

A quick press of Alya’s finger brings up the filters, and she seems to know exactly which one she wants. Marinette just waits, holding her pose as she tries to mentally guess which filter her friend will use this time, normally it’s the dog face, though Alya frequently laments about the lack of a cat or ladybug filter.

The moment this thought passes through Marinette’s head is the moment she realizes that the world has a cruel sense of humor. How is it that the literal embodiment of luck could be so unlucky?

Her smile falls as the filter mocks her, a red mask with black spots appearing over her face, while a black mask appears over Alya’s. At first Alya doesn’t seem to notice, clicking the button on screen to snap a picture.

“I’ve been waiting so long for this filter! Hey, Mari you aren’t smiling. Woah, you actually really look a lot-”

“Delete it.” Mari chokes out, eyes wide and panicked, only then Alya looking up from her phone to check on her friend. Oh shoot, oh no, she’s got to make up some excuse to keep from seeming suspicious over something like this! “I mean! I look really bad there, I stopped smiling for just a moment and of course you took the picture then! Let’s do another one! But uh, you lean in a bit more so it puts the Ladybug mask on you- she’s your favorite right? You should be the one to be Ladybug!”

Alya is obviously not buying it, staring at Marinette like the girl has grown another head, but when she doesn’t respond immediately? Marinette’s hands shoot out to grab for the phone, “Here, let me take it!”

Lucky for Alya, she’s used to her best friend and her penchant for taking other people’s phones. She pulls back, holding the phone out of Marinette’s reach. “Marinette…”

At least Marinette has the presence of mind to look guilty, but that doesn’t stop her from still trying to reach the phone for a moment more. Still, Alya’s arms are longer, so the phone, and the incriminating picture, are safely out of Marinette’s reach.

After a moment the shorter girl seems to give up, hunching over in her seat and staring down at the floor. Tikki is going to be so disappointed in her; how could she mess up so badly? Her one rule was that no one could know! Chat Noir, her own partner, doesn’t even know yet. He’s going to be devastated when she tells him.

Meanwhile, as Marinette’s thoughts head in a downward spiral, Alya takes the opportunity to really look at the picture. Her eyes are glued to the sight of her best friend as Ladybug and oddly enough, there isn’t any anger or disbelief. Just pure shock at herself for not realizing it sooner. Of course Marinette is Ladybug, the hair, the eyes, the sass, the incredible kindness.

The pair sit there in silence for a few moments or maybe longer, neither of them are really sure how much time passes while they’re frozen in reaction to this incredible bomb being dropped.

Finally though, Marinette speaks up. “So I guess the-” do /not/ for the love of god, say ‘the cat is out of the bag,’ Chat would never let her live it down- “the secret is out. Do… do you hate me?”

It’s only then does Alya realize Marinette is crying, her small form shaking and her voice on the edge of breaking. “Mari, what? No! Of course not- I get the whole secret part of secret identity.”

“But you’ve always wanted to unmask Ladybug..?”

“Oh my god, no! I’m not going to tell anyone! Marinette, please believe me, your secret is safe with me, I’m your friend and I’d never do anything to hurt you.”

Blue eyes peek up at hazel, and Marinette seems visibly relieved. “Really?”

“Really, girl. I mean- I /have/ always wanted to know who Ladybug is, but you’re my best friend, and you mean more to me than the views on the Ladybl- oh my god. I run a blog dedicated to my best friend.”

That lightens the mood considerably, Marinette sitting up a little straighter as she laughs at Alya’s revelation.

“No wonder you didn’t read it all the time, you lived all the fights! But oh man, Mari, you better believe I’m getting more exclusive interviews for this!”

Marinette nods her head, “Alright, just not /too/ many. Ladybug can’t be shown to have more to do with you than she would with most other reporters. It’s dangerous for you, and a link to my identity.”

Alya nods, before clicking the little 'x’ at the top of the screen on her phone, sighing as her only evidence of Ladybug’s identity gets deleted before it was even saved. “The things I do for my best friend.” She shakes her head, but shoots a little grin over at said friend. “You know I have /so/ many questions.”

“Yeah, I know. But most of this is confidential- you can’t post any of it, okay?” With a confirmation from Alya, Marinette finally dries the last of her tears, breaking out into a grin. “Okay, Tikki, you can come out.”

 

* * *

 

A few days later, Alya is at school, playing around with the filter again now that Marinette isn’t around for her to accidentally blow her cover. She grins, holding up the phone to get a better angle as the red and black mask appears on her face on the screen.

It’s then that a certain blond model can be seen in the background of her shot, merely standing around talking to Nino. But apparently he’s close enough for the phone to register his face, and a black mask pops over it.

Alya can’t believe her luck.

“No. Flipping. Way. Mari is going to die.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> there's a part two now? okay
> 
> Alya talks to Adrien

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is also unedited so i apologize for any errors

It’s barely been two weeks since Marinette accidentally revealed herself to Alya, and the pair have never been closer. She spilled the rest of her secrets to the reporter, telling her all she knows about Tikki and the miraculous. This seems to appease Alya greatly; her friend understands now more about why Marinette is so flaky in plans, and why she’s so late for school and other obligations.

Unbeknownst to Marinette, Alya has also known her partner’s identity for nearly the same amount of time.

It was merely two days after Marinette’s accidental reveal that Alya managed to catch Adrien on the filter as well, a black mask and black cat ears showing her the truth of the matter. While she had originally intended on telling Marinette right away, something stopped her.

Sure, she could tell Marinette that her supermodel crush was moonlighting as the ‘annoying punster flirt’ she so vehemently denied feelings for. But Marinette was so worried about revealing her identity to someone else before said partner that Alya thought it might be better for her to tell him that first. After all, as much as she wants her two friends to get together, it’s a little entertaining to see them blindly stumble around each other, and having Mari find out for herself will probably be better in the long run.

That being said, if she takes too much longer, Alya might just shove the pair of them in a closet and force them into revealing themselves. There’s only so much build up a teenage girl can take, after all.

 

* * *

 

This all leads to today; Alya is sitting at home, chatting with Marinette over the phone while said girl worries for the millionth time how Chat will take the news of her accidental reveal. She’s had her panties in a bunch about it from the beginning, and there are only so many times that Alya can tell her to calm down and actually have her listen.

“But Alya! You don’t understand how important this is to him! He’s always wanted to reveal ourselves, but he’s always been so understanding of my want to keep it a secret! If he finds out someone else knows first, he’ll think I don’t trust him! What if this ruins everything?!”

“Okay, ignoring for a moment the facts that you didn’t choose to tell me and that somehow his friendship outranks mine, I have an idea. I’m gonna hang up and call you back in an hour, okay?” She doesn’t even bother waiting for Marinette to answer, because she knows the anxious girl isn’t going to just take that at face value, instead she just hangs up and goes to her contacts for a different number.

She scrolls until she finds Adrien’s number and then writes up a text. ‘Hey model boy, today you told Nino your shoot got cancelled, yeah?’

It’s barely two minutes later when she gets a response. ‘Hey Alya! Uhh, yeah. I’m on my way to his house now, why?’

She rolls her eyes; the boy is always so polite it’s hard to imagine him prowling around Paris in a cat suit. And yet she has a picture that’s as close to proof as she can get right now. ‘Make a detour. I need to talk to you.’ She hits send and then thinks again, sending a second message. ‘Now.’ There, that should be scary and vague enough to make him want to listen, right?

‘Okay?’

She doesn’t respond to that one, only to the one after it, confirming that his detour should be to her house, and what her address is. Glancing around the crowded apartment and her little siblings running around, she decides it isn’t the best place for privacy though, and she goes downstairs to wait for him outside.

His driver pulls up and Adrien gets out of the car, a clearly confused and slightly worried look on his face. She wonders if he has any clue what this is about and what he thinks about her calling him up out of the blue in general. She knows Marinette is worried about what she’s doing, because in the fifteen minutes it took for her to hang up and get Adrien here, Marinette has left her phone with two missed calls and four unread text messages.

She glances at her phone screen as it lights up with unread message number five but pockets it instead of unlocking it, nodding to Adrien. “Hey, let’s go up to the roof, I don’t think my siblings really need to hear this.”

“Uhh, Alya, did I do something…? Am I taking up too much of Nino’s-“

“No! Oh my god. I am /so/ not that clingy. And we aren’t dating.” She quickly turns away from Adrien, only glancing back to make sure he’s following her. “It’s nothing about Nino. It’s about… something else. Just come on, you’ll see.” Another glance back shows that his worry hasn’t been eased by her confirming it has nothing to do with his best friend. Makes sense, if it was about Nino it probably would have been easy to fix, but this… Well there’s no going back from what she’s about to tell him.

They walk up the stairs to the roof in relative silence, their steps echoing in the stairwell the only real noise.

As soon as the door to the roof shuts however…

“Alya-“

“I know who you are.”

She turns to face him more fully. This idea came to her while she was trying to console Mari, so she has a general idea of what to say planned out. She isn’t going to out her friend, definitely not. She’s not even going to tell him that she has any clue about Ladybug. She just needs to push him into reopening the subject of their identities first, which will give Marinette the push to tell him as well. Then she can stop feeling so guilty, too.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, okay, Agreste.”

“Seriously, Alya. Everyone knows who I am; I’m on billboards all over Paris. We go to school together, you should definitely know who I am too.”

She rolls her eyes, giving a short little laugh. At his deflections are slightly better than Mari’s. But only slightly. “If you don’t want to fess up to wearing a skin tight leather cat suit then I can always just show you the picture.”

Adrien’s face immediately pales, his hand going up to rub at the back of his neck. “Cat suit? Me? Don’t be ridiculous, my father would never let me leave the house in such a thing. Can you imagine an Agreste brand cat suit?” He forces a laugh but it’s exactly that: forced.

“Adrien. I have a picture. So just make this easier on both of us.” Of course, she leaves out that the picture isn’t of him transforming or of him in any kind of situation that could reveal him, but merely a glimpse of him in the background with a Snapchat filter on. That can come later, once she’s gotten him to out himself.

He visibly deflates, and then quickly goes on the defensive. “It’s not leather. I mean, the suit, it’s not leather. Alya you can’t say anything! I know how much you care about the Ladyblog but Ladybug would freak! And the public! Can you imagine? It would put everyone I know in danger, it would put you and Nino and everyone else in our class in danger and-“

“Cool it, Agreste, I know. I’m not going to out you.”

“You… You aren’t?”

Honestly, what the hell? How could Marinette or Adrien honestly believe that she would put them in danger like that? Well… thinking back on Ladybug’s face when she explained that Alya had been akumatized, and the reason why… Okay, she’ll give them a little leeway there.

“I’m not. I swear. I just wanted you to know that I know.” She shrugs, “Maybe I can help you out sometimes. Not that you really need anyone to back you on excuses for disappearing, your hectic schedule is generally in our favor there. But if you need something else, just let me know.”

Adrien’s eyes narrow. “You… you’re taking this remarkably well. I thought for sure you of all people would just start grilling me.”

“What can I say, I’m feeling generous. You can give me a private little off-the-books interview later. Fill me in on all the details. For right now though, Nino is waiting, and I’ve taken up enough of your time.” She starts to walk towards the stairwell again, shooing him along with her before pausing. “Oh wait… Are you going to tell Ladybug I know?” And then to make it a little more believable- “Will you ask her for an interview for me too?! No offense, but talking to /her/ about this kind of stuff would be so cool!”

And there goes the tension; Adrien genuinely laughs, and then mocks offense at the statement. “What, is Chat Noir not cool enough for you, Alya?”

The redhead laughs right alongside him. “Sorry, but you know me, I’ve always been more of a Ladybug fan. Hence the blog title. It’s not the Chatblog.”

“Fair enough.” He opens the door for her and they start back down the stairs. “I’ll talk to her about it tonight at patrol… She definitely needs to know that I was stupid enough to let a picture be taken. And, uh, Alya. Where did you get a picture of me that proved it?”

The girl just grins, shrugging. “Snapchat.”

“… Snapchat.”

“Yeah, Snapchat.”

“Did someone else catch me and send it to you?”

More laughter as she pulls out her phone, ignoring the extra missed call from Marinette in favor of pulling up the picture. “Nope. This was all a grand stroke of luck.” She holds up the phone to let him see the photo, but she knows well enough now not to give him a chance to take the phone or delete it.

“Son of a-“


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a talk but Alya doesn't deem it Enough(tm)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay I've decided to turn this into like a real thing I guess?

Adrien parted ways from Alya, oddly enough feeling lighter despite the nervousness pooling in his gut. He’s not nervous about Alya knowing, in fact her knowing is exactly why he feels lighter. Even with all her faults, Alya is a good person and a good friend. She’s someone he knows he can trust and count on to keep this secret, and even offered her help, though he’s not sure he’ll have a need to take her up on her offer. It’s nice to know that he’s not alone in this though. Not that he’s /really/ alone anyway, he does have his partner.

But no, he’s nervous because someone in general found out about his identity. This is almost best-case scenario though. The only people more qualified to know of his secret would be Ladybug herself or Nino. He’s just worried about how his Lady is going to react to the news. After all, she doesn’t know Alya as anyone other than the girl who runs the Ladyblog, and that isn’t exactly reassuring if you don’t personally know Alya.

He could always assure Ladybug that Alya can be trusted, but how is he supposed to do that without revealing that he knows her in his civilian life? It’s all he can think about on the car ride over to Nino’s. Ladybug’s reaction… She could be mad at how he was careless, how Alya practically tricked him into revealing himself. After all, the picture wasn’t /absolutely/ incriminating. It would raise questions, yes, but it wasn’t definitive proof.

Or worse, she could be disappointed in him, giving him those sad eyes that show he’s not living up to the image she has of him. He isn’t sure he would be able to take that. There are only two people whose disappointment would crush him, his father’s and his Lady’s. What if she’s so upset with him she doesn’t trust him anymore? After all, if he let his secret go so easily, how could she ever trust him with hers?

His driver grunting at him is what finally pulls him out of his thoughts, and he only just realizes the car is stopped. Honestly, he isn’t sure how long he’s just been sitting in lost in thought, but the Gorilla’s gaze in the rearview mirror reminds him that he’s here for Nino, and it’s time to get out of the car.

“Thanks. I’ll be done in a couple hours.” He mumbles, giving a small wave as he slides out of the backseat.

 

* * *

 

Adrien’s time with Nino is too short, and his friend calls him out for being spacey a few too many times. He apologizes, but Nino merely laughs and tells him that if he’s thinking of a girl that it’s fine, that he gets it. It kind of twists up his gut, because while Nino isn’t wrong, per say, it’s definitely not what he’s thinking.

He thinks more on Nino’s words. ‘I get it, man. Girls.’ The little light in his eyes and the small smile he didn’t really try to hide said it all. So even though they dropped that conversation nearly an hour ago, Adrien brings it back up.

“So, you and Alya?”

Nino snorts, “Not yet, dude. Not officially anyway. We’ve hung out a bit, and we talk constantly, but it seems like every time I want to plan a date she’s got plans with Mari.” He laughs again, almost wanting to make a joke about how the two girls are always together, but really he can’t say much because every free moment of Adrien’s schedule is taken by him. He’s sure they would be as inseparable if the guy wasn’t so busy with everything his dad makes him do.

Adrien just nods. “Yeah, they are really close, but I’m sure she would make time for you if you just asked her out.”

“Well she would, but you know…”

Now it’s Adrien’s turn to snort. Nino is just nervous about actually asking Alya out and they both know it. His date with Marinette was kind of a train wreck and the only reason he even agreed was because Adrien was there talking in his ear the whole time.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. You’ll get all tongue tied and trip over your words.”

“You know… You could always help me.”

“No way man, not again. Spying on your date was bad enough last time, and you didn’t even listen to my advice!”

“Yeah but it worked out fine! I started talking to Alya, didn’t I?”

“But Alya wasn’t who you went on the date with!”

The two boys just look at each other before bursting into laughter. The whole situation was kind of ridiculous, but it was a nice story. Apart from the akuma, at least.

After the laughter dies down, Nino speaks up again. “It wouldn’t be like last time, we could make it like a double date, so you won’t be coaching me the whole time. You’d just be…. Giving me backup, you know, being my wingman. Please, dude? I’ll feel better knowing you’re there to stop me from saying anything embarrassing.”

Adrien sighs, “I don’t even have anyone to ask out to go with you guys, I’d just be third-wheeling.”

“Uh, dude? You’re my best friend, Alya has a best friend. Weren’t we just talking about how inseparable they are?”

Adrien pauses, blinking at nothing. “Marinette?”

“Yeah man, Marinette.”

“You think she’d want to do that?”

“Dude.” Adrien just looks at his friend, a silent ‘what’ clear on his face. “You’re hopeless.”

“You can’t even ask out someone who’s practically already your girlfriend and I’m the hopeless one? What are you even talking about?” The blond laughs again before his phone goes off. He pulls it out of his pocket and sighs. “My ride is here, I’ve gotta go.”

“Think about it?”

“Yeah, I’ll think about it.” Honestly, Marinette is a good friend, and he thinks she probably wants their friends together as much as he does, so there’s no real reason not to do this for Nino. But right now, his mind is more focused on Ladybug and how she’s going to react to his slipup, so he’ll have to wait to talk to Marinette about a possible double date.

 

* * *

 

After arriving home, Adrien eats his dinner alone in the dining room before ‘retiring’ to his room for the night. He has time before patrol, so he showers and sneaks Plagg some more cheese before checking the Ladyblog. True to her word, Alya hasn’t posted anything about his identity, not even a hint that she knows. He didn’t really think she would lie to him, but it’s still a relief to know for a fact.

He’s growing antsy about the whole identity thing though, so he ends up transforming nearly half an hour early and heading out to their meeting place anyway. It’ll be fine if he gets there before Ladybug does, he can take in the sights or do a quick mini patrol while he waits. After all, he doubts there will be much of a real patrol tonight anyway with the bomb he’s got to drop on his partner.

Surprisingly though, he doesn’t beat Ladybug to the Notre Dame. She’s already perched atop a gargoyle, elbow resting on her knee, chin held in her hand as she looks over the bright city.

“Don’t you look pawsitively radiant tonight, Bugaboo.”

She doesn’t even crack the barest hint of a smile and his immediately droops. While she doesn’t generally flirt back with him, she does tease and play, and she’s not normally so morose. He wonders if something is wrong.

“Good evening Chat.”

“Is something the matter, My Lady?”

She makes a noncommittal noise and he takes it as a ‘yes’.

“You know you can talk to me about anything, right?”

Finally, she sits up a little straighter, looking more fully at him. “I know. But some things are just hard to talk about.”

“Would… would you mind if I started talking then? And whenever I’m done, maybe whatever you have to talk about won’t seem so bad.”

Her brow furrows and he sheepishly lowers his head. “What do you have to talk about that could be so bad?”

Well, here goes nothing.

“It’s… it’s my identity.”

“No, Chat. Nuh-uh, we talked about this.”

She turns away from him again, staring pointedly out across the rooftops.

“Not like that. I’m not trying to convince you we need to share our identities with each other. I know how you feel about that.”

Ladybug visibly winces at his defensive tone, and there’s a moment of silence before she speaks up. “I know, I’m sorry. I know you won’t really push me on something I say no to.” He’ll push a little, sure, but he knows when to stop, knows when she’s just playing and when she’s serious. And she’s very serious about their identities. That begs the question though, what else could he possibly need to talk about identity-wise if he isn’t asking her to take off the mask.

She knows though, she knows exactly what he wants to talk about. And it isn’t just because there’s no other logical explanation for this sudden topic. He can see it in her stance that there’s something more. But before he can question her about her issues and how she seems to know where this is going already, he’s actually got to get it there.

“Someone found out, My Lady. A civilian knows who I am and confronted me about it today.”

“And what did you say to this civilian?” Alya flashes through her mind, but Alya only knows /her/ identity, not Chat’s. If she knew Chat’s she’s sure her friend would have told her first before going to him. Whoever he is under that mask.

“I, uh- Well I tried to deny it at first. Made an excuse. But she… She had a picture. Sorry, My Lady, I know you’re probably disappointed in me, but the cat’s out of the bag now.”

Her head snaps around so fast he swears it’s like something out of a horror movie, but her look isn’t anything sinister. It’s obvious she didn’t think he would have the audacity to joke right now. Or, maybe that’s not it… There’s something on her face and he isn’t sure what. And then her face goes red and mutters ‘stupid cat’ under her breath just loud enough for him to hear.

Ladybug is silent for a few minutes, long enough that Chat knows not to break the silence and just let her process this information. After a moment though, he tentatively makes his way closer to her, perching himself on the edge of the building next to her.

They continue to sit in silence for a few minutes more, before his partner finally speaks up again.

“I’m not disappointed. I’d be a hypocrite if I said such a thing.”

“My Lady…?”

“My best friend found out about me. Two weeks ago. I’ve… I’ve been struggling with how to bring it up.”

Something twists inside his stomach again. So Ladybug also got outed without meaning to. At least it was her best friend who found out and not her best friend’s sort-of-almost-but-not-really-significant-other. Still, he wouldn’t be him to let this go without teasing her.

“Me-owch, My Lady. And here I thought I was your best friend.”

She smiles a little bit then, nudging his shoulder with hers. “My /civilian/ best friend.”

“If she spends all of her time with you then she must be trustworthy at least.”

“She is. And what about this girl who found out your identity?”

“Trustworthy. I swear.”

“So you know her, then.”

He just nods, before adding. “She’s a friend.”

They fall into another silence, this one more comfortable than the last. But Chat’s aching inside. He said he wouldn’t push her on her identity, and he won’t. But he’s dying to anyway. If someone else already knows, then what’s the harm in telling each other? He worries at his lower lip, wishing she would just open up to him a bit more. Maybe this is something he can talk to Alya about? She did say she wanted to help, however that may be.

There’s more to be said on the situation, more to talk about. About how he feels that he isn’t the first to know, about how he knows it’s unfair of him to feel that way when it was accident, and when she isn’t the first to know his identity either. More to be said on the matter of /who/ knows, and how that will affect their everyday lives. But they don’t talk anymore, they just sit in silence and watch the Parisian lights.

 

* * *

 

“You WHAT?!”

“Alya, calm down! My parents are downstairs!” Marinette shushes her best friend before plopping down on the chaise next to her.

“You’re telling me, that someone found out his identity too and you two didn’t talk about it?!” She stares at Marinette incredulously. “Girl, you’ve got to get this together.”

“It’s /fine/. He didn’t seem upset and now we’re even. Everything’s okay now.”

“It’s not. It’s not okay, and you need to talk to him about this.”

“What do you want me to say, Alya? At least it was people who we trust and not some strangers who found out! Besides, how am I supposed to be like ‘sorry someone found out, it was my fault for posing for a photo on Snapchat’. That sounds ridiculous.”

Alya rolls her eyes, it’s way less ridiculous than how she got it out of Adrien at least. Him being in the background is so much funnier in her opinion. “Did… Did he say who found out about him?”

“He just said it was a friend he trusted. Why?”

Alya shrugs, “No reason. I’m just curious. And I’m surprised you let that go.”

Marinette sighs, flopping back. “I still feel bad. He came and told me immediately. He told me the /day/ it happened. And I’ve been pacing about for two weeks trying to get up the nerve. I don’t get it, I’m not like this! I don’t get so nervous and I don’t keep secrets from my partner.”

“Well…”

“Well what?”

“Well you do get nervous. Around Adrien? And you do keep secrets from your partner. A pretty big one at least.”

Marinette pales. “Oh my god. Ohmygod, Alya.” Alya just quirks a brow up. “Do… do you think I…. /like/ Chat Noir?”

“Well, from what you’ve told me you don’t sound like a complete idiot around him, so maaaaybe not. But probably.” This is easier to confirm knowing that Chat Noir is totally Adrien. Honestly, Marinette might have a conniption when she finds out. IF she finds out. Alya’s earlier idea about just locking them in a closet is looking better and better right now.

“Probably…. Proabably! What! What am I supposed to do with that?! I like Adrien!”

Another sigh from Alya. “Just talk to him.”

“To Adrien? Are you kidding me? You know how bad I am at that.”

“No, Chat.”

“Chat. Right.” Marinette grabs a nearby pillow and holds it to her face, screaming into it for a moment.

“Feel better?”

She drops the pillow to the floor, looking up at her best friend. Her civilian best friend. She smiles softly. “A little. Okay, I’ll talk to him about it. Really talk to him.”

“Atta girl.”

“But you have to talk to Nino.”

“Wow, you’re really twisting my arm here, Mari. Sure, I’ll talk to Nino if you talk to Chat.” She grins, reaching down to toy with one of Marinette’s pigtails. “What am I gonna do with you?” The pair giggle, and Marinette resolves to finish this whole thing once and for all. She knows she isn’t done dealing with her identity issues until Chat Noir truly knows.


	4. Chapter 4

Marinette put the conversation off for another three days before finally deciding she had to face the music. She let her guard down, and Alya found out her secret; she’s dealing with that, but part of dealing with that is making sure she and her partner are still okay and on the same page. So they have to talk about it. Really talk about it.

So right now she’s not Marinette, she’s Ladybug, wearing her suit, sitting atop the Eiffel Tower, and swinging her legs as she waits for her partner to show up for patrol. He’s never late, but he still has time. She was so antsy that she arrived early, just like the last time they started this conversation.

She doesn’t wait for long before she hears the thud of his boots touching down on the iron beams, his steps surprisingly silent as he approaches her. She quirks her head to the side though, “You’re early.”

“So are you.”

She smiles softly. “A lot on my mind.”

He just nods as he takes a seat beside her, letting his own feet swing opposite hers. Normally once they both arrive they just shoot off, racing around Paris and keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. But there are the rare occasions where the air between them seems heavier, and they sit in each other’s company for a while first. Times where they share a companionable silence, and others where they just sit and joke. Tonight is neither. It’s obvious there’s something more tonight.

It is silent at first, but then Ladybug speaks up. “I’m sorry.”

Chat’s head turns quickly to get a read on her but as he opens his mouth to speak, she beats him to it.

“For being so careless. It doesn’t matter that it was my best friend who found out, and it doesn’t matter that it was an accident. I should have been more careful. You deserved to find out first.”

“Ladybug, I-“

“No, wait, let me finish.” He dutifully shuts his mouth, nodding in clear understanding that what she’s talking about is vitally important to her. And even if it wasn’t; everything she says is vitally important to him.

“She’s a little upset with me, says we need to talk more because we just brushed over everything. So I’m going to tell you exactly what happened, but-“ She hesitates, only a moment, before pushing forward. “But you have to promise not to laugh.”

One of his brows quirks up, clear confusion and curiosity. “Why would I laugh about you getting found out?”

Ladybug groans, pressing the heels of her hands over her eyes. “Because it was stupid! It was unbelievably stupid and totally avoidable!”

Chat snorts at that, “Can’t be more stupid than how I was found out, My Lady. I swear I won’t laugh. Cat’s honor.”

She doesn’t quite look like she believes him. “You said your friend had a picture, right? How is that- Wait, don’t tell me until after, okay? I need to get through this first.”

“No worries, LB, you have the floor.”

Ladybug nods, before diving into her story, keeping Alya’s name out of it of course. By the end, Chat’s visibly trying so hard not to laugh, and she has to punch him lightly in the arm and remind him that he swore he wouldn’t.

“I’m sorry, it’s just- what’re the odds?!”

“The odds of Ladybug not knowing there was a Ladybug and Chat Noir filter on Snapchat? Pretty high considering I don’t really use it.”

He shakes his head, recovering from his almost-laughing fit. “No, the odds that we would get outed in nearly the exact same way.”

“Excuse me?”

“The picture- the one my friend had. Well, it was from Snapchat.”

“Chat.” Ladybug furrows her brow, wondering how her cat was such an idiot as to send such an incriminating selfie to someone. He seems to know exactly what she’s thinking though.

“It’s not like that, My Lady, I swear. My friend, she was taking a selfie, and I just happened to be chatting with another friend behind her. It was my bad luck that the app recognized my face in the background and slipped the filter over me too.”

“Oh.” Well now she feels like a jerk. Of course Chat wouldn’t be so stupid as to just send anyone such a picture. She’s visibly relieved, and then /she/ starts laughing. It hits her so suddenly, that only they could have this kind of luck. What other superhero would possibly be outed in such a way? Was his bad luck as Chat rubbing off on her, or was it merely because of the bad luck she has on her own when she’s not in costume?

“My Lady?” He questions her, but he’s grinning from ear to ear, and then soon enough he’s joining her.

It takes a while for them to calm down, red faces and heaving chests, but soon enough they’ve laughed themselves out.

“I think… we should revisit the topic of our identities.”

Chat doesn’t answer her, and it worries her, but then she glances over and he’s staring at her in awe.

“Don’t get the wrong idea, kitten. I’m not just going to release my transformation or give you my real name. But… I have an idea. And I think it’ll be fun.” It’ll be good for their partnership at least. Probably.

His face falls slightly, at the news she isn’t just going to tell him who she is, but he’s still brimming with hope, and it shows. “Revisit the topic how, then?”

“I have… A game in mind. Yes, a game.”

“What sort of game, My Lady?” She isn’t being forthright with information, and he can practically see the gears turning in her head which just means she’s slow in explaining because she’s still tweaking the rules in her head. It’s clear when she’s done though.

“Okay! It’ll be a mystery game, first one to figure out the other wins.”

“And what will I get when I win?”

“IF you win, then I’ll go on one date with you.” Provided he still wants to go on a date after she’s revealed. “And when I win, then… You have to stop punning for a week.”

“A week? That’s cruel and unusual pun-ishment, Bugaboo. Good thing I won’t have to endure it.” He’s smirking at her and she just smiles and rolls her eyes, nudging at him slightly with her elbow. “So what are the rules?”

“We’re going to use Snapchat.” She’s grinning, happy to have come up with such an idea. She explains the rules she’s come up with more fully to him before heading home for the night.

They’re going to make new accounts, separate from the ones they already have, and the only people that they’re going to add are each other. Obviously they have to use pseudonyms, and they can’t take any selfies unless they use the proper filter. Luckily, Snapchat updated the filters a few days ago, and while there is the one to share with a friend for both masks, due to popular demand, there is also one where you can change the masks at will.

They did decide that they can take pictures of whatever else they want, barring any people that they know, just in case they happen to know each other in their civilian lives.

Marinette merely added that rule because of how high-profile some of her friends are. After all, pictures of Adrien, who is a literal model, or Alya, who runs the most popular Ladybug blog in Paris, would give far too big of hints as to where she goes to school and what grade she’s in. Unbeknownst to her, Adrien is happy for this rule because pictures of Chloe, who is the mayor’s daughter and very selective in who she hangs around, would be a huge clue into his identity.

While they want to know each other, they don’t want to lose the game, so they have to hint at themselves without giving it away outright. It’ll be a delicate balance.

 

* * *

 

As soon as Marinette gets home she pulls out her phone, making a new account. She transforms after it’s done, making sure to leave her phone sitting on her desk and not in her pocket so it doesn’t disappear in the transformation. As soon as that’s done she calls Chat on her yo-yo.

He practically purrs out a hello and which she ignores with a roll of her eyes before telling him her username. They exchange the information and make sure they added the right person before hanging up. Well, before he wishes her sweet dreams and she hangs up on him. She was still smiling though, and at a loss as to what to do next. Does she start them off tonight? Does she keep her transformation on as extra insurance, just using a bare spot of her wall as a backdrop? Or does she go up to her balcony and use the lights of Paris to keep her room a secret?

All of her tentative plans go out the window when he snaps her first, and she swallows heavy before opening the picture. He’s still in costume in the picture, and he’s definitely outside, probably on a roof if the background is anything to go by. That’s not what she’s focused on in this picture though. More the fact that he put the Chat Noir filter on over his actually transformed face. The digital mask and ears fit oddly over the real thing, and he’s grinning like a madman, obviously laughing at himself.

She wishes more than anything that she could screenshot this picture just to tease him with it, but that was another rule. No screenshots to look back on for more clues. Though the timer on each picture is up to their discretion.

So instead she lets the time run out, staring at her partner’s dorky expression before pulling up the screen to reply. Looking around her room, she decides to move, her back to a bare portion of her pink walls. A pink backdrop shouldn’t give anything away, other than the fact that she likes the color.

Somehow, she doubts putting the Ladybug mask over her actual costume will be as entertaining as his, considering the ears and all. So instead she pulls up the Chat Noir filter, letting that pop up over her real mask. After some movement of her hand to get the right angle, she taps the screen, and before she can think too much on it, sends him the picture of her grinning like an idiot, a digital black mask over her magical one.

They go back and forth like this merely for a few minutes, not really dropping hints yet, just getting used to the new form of communication. And then Ladybug ends it, reminding Chat that they have school the next day and letting him know she still needed to shower after their patrol. So they bid each other good night and promise to talk again later. The implication that neither will be wearing their real masks then is enough to make Marinette’s stomach churn, with nervousness and excitement.

 

* * *

 

Their game starts off slower than anticipated. They don’t immediately start sending selfies with the filter on, and though Marinette can’t speak for Chat, she knows she hasn’t been doing it because she’s scared the digital mask won’t hold up as well as the magical one. She’s worried one selfie is going to be all it takes to reveal herself.

So instead of selfies, they start with other things. Smaller things. Marinette sends a picture of freshly baked cookies, with a caption letting Chat know that it’s her kwami’s favorite food. In return she gets a picture of a wedge of cheese, with a caption that clarifies its camembert cheese. It’s quickly followed by another shot of the same cheese, a chunk missing from it, with the news that he recently found out their kwami’s can’t be filmed or photographed. She gets his kwami’s name from this, Plagg, as he tells her that the little black cat is actually in the process of eating said cheese.

Things stay like that for a bit, moving from pictures of their foods to pictures of their surroundings. Marinette is careful not to take pictures of things like her parent’s bakery or her school, always snapping pics of things when she’s farther away from her house. Luckily, with Alya in the loop, the two girls go out more than they used to, if only to find more scenery to send to Chat.

They talk a lot in their photos though, captions about how their days went and hints about things they like and do. So far Marinette has learned that Chat lives a pretty sheltered life. He’s mentioned that he’s stuck in his room a lot, though his pictures are varied enough that he must have plenty to do in his house. She’s also learned that his favorite color is blue, though she isn’t sure if she can trust that because he said that it’s because of her eye color. He hates the smell of the cheese his kwami eats, constantly complaining that he thinks people at school must think he smells bad, and she’s learned that he’s a fencing student. All of this fits with her image of him already, figuring he had to get his fighting skills from somewhere.

She’s let him know more about herself as well, letting it slip that she’s lucky Tikki likes cookies so much, because she has plenty of knowledge about baking. She’s also let slip that she’s into fashion design, occasionally sending pictures of her sketchbook when she’s particularly excited about certain projects.

It’s a little scary how easy it is to talk to him, how natural it seems to share her day to day life with him, and how he seems to take everything she says to heart.

 

* * *

 

After about a week, Alya still hasn’t upheld her end of the bargain, not having asked Nino out on an official date yet. It’s starting to drive Marinette a little crazy, and suddenly she realizes why Alya seems so put out with her behavior around Adrien so much.

But then Adrien asks to talk to Marinette one day at the start of their lunch break, and while she’s busy gathering the courage to say yes, Alya just shoves her towards the blond and agrees for her.

He leads her out to the courtyard and they go sit on a bench, Marinette fidgeting with her hands in her lap and Adrien, smiling politely.

“So Nino and Alya have been getting really close lately.”

“Oh. Yeah! They seem to really be taking their time about it though.” Marinette glances up to the second floor, where Alya and Nino are clearly leaning against the railing, obviously looking anywhere but at them. She lets out a little snort and motions her head towards them. “It seems like they’re interested in what we’re talking about.”

Adrien laughs softly. “Yeah, Nino is probably worried about what you’re going to say.”

“Uh, me? What would I say? About what? What does he think we’re talking about?” She’s going into a slight panic. Did Adrien talk to Nino about what he was planning on talking to her about? And what’s so important that he would need to discuss it with Nino in the first place?

“He wants to ask Alya out, but he’s… Nervous. Like when he wanted to ask you out but had to have me do it for him, remember?” Marinette’s mouth makes a little ‘oh’ and she nods, still staring up at the balcony at their friends. “So he asked if we would go with them, like a double date. But, I, uh, wanted to ask you first, to make sure it was okay.”

“Oh! You want to go out! I mean, not out-out, but like, to help them! That’s really sweet, yeah, we should do that!” Marinette is panicking even more now, her face getting redder and redder. Adrien is finally asking her out, but it’s not in the way she wanted, it’s just to help Nino. Which, honestly, is admirable, yet another quality of his that she adores, but it still… hurts. To think he’s only asking her because of their friends.

“Cool. That’s really nice of you Marinette, I promise we’ll all have fun.”

She’s finally looking at him again, and he smiles, that real smile. It’s not the one from his model shoots, it’s soft and genuine and her heart beats a little faster and suddenly it’s way too hot out here. She shoots up, standing quickly and making an excuse. “I have to go! Lunch! Home! Now- but that’s sood- I mean good! I was gonna say ‘sweet’ and then I changed to ‘good’ and that came out weird!” He puts his hand on her shoulder, and she’s not even sure when he stood up, but it makes her stop talking, lets her take a deep breath.

“I’ll tell Nino and I’m sure he’ll ask by the end of the day. We were thinking tomorrow, if that works? Thanks, Marinette, you’re a great friend.”

Marinette just nods dumbly, her face red and mouth open as she stares at him. It’s only once he starts walking off that she mumbles a ‘thanks’.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, the start of a date, cute

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I keep changing where I'm gonna end this, but this chapter was over 5000 words and it wasn't even done so I broke it up into two. The finale coming soon, freaking finally. Thanks for sticking with me and my ever changing mind lmao.

After Adrien left Marinette a blushing mess down in the courtyard, Alya came downstairs to drag her off for lunch alone.  They headed to Marinette’s house to eat food from the bakery and pick out their outfits for the next night. So here they are, munching on sandwiches and going through Marinette’s closet, but Marinette’s head isn’t really in it. She keeps thinking about whether she should tell Chat or not, and what will happen if she does, or worse, if she doesn’t and then he finds out anyway. And really, she shouldn’t feel so bad about that, it isn’t as if they’re a couple or anywhere close to it. They’re just partners.

“Earth to Marinette!

“Huh? Oh, sorry Alya! I was just thinking… about Adrien! Yeah, about Adrien!”

But even as she says it, her phone lights up with a notification from Chat and Alya gives her a knowing smirk. “Uh-huh, sure.”

Marinette chooses to ignore her friend in favor of looking at the picture Chat sent her. It is his lunch hour too, and generally they snap each other during. It’s his normal lunch picture, just a quick snap of his food, but that’s never been the point of sending food pictures. It was always more about the little conversations they would have during lunch. Her stomach churns as she reads the text under his plate though.

‘My friend roped me into a double date today.’

A second snap soon follows. Nearly the exact same picture, except the caption… ‘But don’t worry My Lady, my heart still belongs to you <3’.

He’s always like this, always a teasing flirt, but Marinette finds it’s so much easier to brush him off in person, when he’s doing that stupid wiggle of his eyebrows and grinning so big he couldn’t possibly be doing anything other than joking. So she just pictures that instead, rolling her eyes before snapping a picture of her shoes with the caption: ‘Have fun on your date kitten, I know I will :P’.

 

* * *

 

Adrien, meanwhile, is eating lunch at school with Nino. He’s staring dumbfounded at his phone though, his barely-touched meal just sitting there as Nino drones on about one of their homework assignments.

Ladybug has a date, too?

It’s not a surprise to him, not really. A girl like Ladybug probably has a dozen suitors, clambering over each other to get a shot at a date with her. But… actually hearing it hurts. He had thought… Well he had thought that they were growing closer with this game, that maybe he had a chance once it was all over and done with.

But what if he’s too late? He hasn’t made any real progress with the hints they’ve been giving. After all, how was he supposed to find Ladybug out of all the girls in Paris with hints like ‘my favorite color is pink’ and ‘I like fashion’. Even knowing she’s in his grade doesn’t really help narrow it down with qualifiers like that.

He needs to step it up, he needs to make a bigger effort in finding her, or he’ll be too late. To do that though, he can’t be around Nino. So he makes a hurried excuse, something about needing to call Nathalie in regards to something he forgot about a shoot and leaves his lunch sitting at the table as he shoots off.

He sneaks upstairs, making it to the roof undeterred and undetected. Good.

He sits back against the door, just in case anyone else gets the idea to hide away up here until classes start back up, and then he pulls out his phone again.

There was something familiar about the photo Ladybug had sent him, but he had been too caught off guard at her words to really take in the scenery. But that’s okay, he’s about to jump start the game by a few steps.

They had agreed in the beginning that selfies were fine so long as they had their alter ego’s filter on, so he takes a deep breath and pulls it up.

Aaaand it’s not as inconspicuous as he wanted. He’s sure that the magic of the suits helps hide them, at least the smallest bit, and he’s not sure how comfortable he is, sending a selfie without that buffer. Another issue, is that as ready as he is to know who Ladybug is under the mask, he’s not quite desperate enough to throw the game. He does want that date, after all.

And he doesn’t want the date just because she suddenly finds out that he’s a model. That seems like it would be cheating.

So he stares at his reflection a bit, before mussing up his hair into the more windswept mess it falls into as Chat, and then he thinks again and pulls off his white button up, letting only the black tee he wears underneath show in his picture.

“Man, you sure are grooming yourself a lot. Another picture for Lady Luck?”

“Shut up, Plagg, I need to make sure I don’t look as much like a model as I normally do.”

“I guess you do have the short end of the stick here. Hurry up though, lunch is almost over and you left my snack back there with your friend.”

Adrien’s brow furrows but he realizes just how true Plagg’s statement is. Not the one about the cheese, but the other one. He really does have the short end of the stick; he said it himself, out of everyone in Paris, Ladybug could be anyone. It’s possible they’ve never even met as civilians. But he’s more well known, even if they’ve never met, chances are she’s seen his face in a magazine or on a billboard or some other poster. He’s definitely at the disadvantage here.

He takes another deep breath and then holds his phone up again, renewed confidence. It doesn’t matter if he’s at a disadvantage; he’s /always/ at a disadvantage when it comes to being Chat Noir. His superpower is literally bad luck and destruction. It always seems to work out for him in the end though. Even being caught by Alya spurred him into having that talk with Ladybug, who extended the invitation for this game. He’ll make it work for him somehow.

So he takes a selfie, the app doing its work by covering part of his face with the mask, smoothing the rest, and brightening it all up. Even with the photo-editing his father’s crew does, it’s a different sort of editing, and the end result doesn’t make him look like Agreste model, Adrien, but someone slightly different.

His captions reads: ‘So I have some competition, My Lady?’

Before he can second guess himself, he sends it, and then takes another picture, this time getting his arm in the shot, flexing. ‘Guess I’ll just have to outflex him :P after all, it’s pretty hard to beat out a superhero’

His thumb hovers over the send button on that one, but a quick breath a little tap later and it’s on it’s way to his partner as well. All in all, it wasn’t as bad as his first thought. His stomach coils angrily at the thought of Ladybug with someone else, but… The last time he tried to muscle someone away from her, the guy ended up akumatized. He definitely doesn’t want a repeat of that. It ripped out his heart nearly as bad as the Prime Queen incident.

He slouches back against the door, sighing. Maybe this isn’t going as well as he had originally hoped, and maybe Ladybug only means to reveal themselves to each other as a means of making this all easier on them, but he wants it to mean more. He’s always wanted it to mean more, but every step she’s drawn her lines and he’s been forced to sit behind them and wait for her to draw them back a little further.

And she has been.

She’s given him room and let him push closer to her but it’s never been as close as he’s wanted. A part of him wonders if it’s because of the masks but another, deeper part wonders if it’s just him. And this date… Does Ladybug have a boyfriend?

 

* * *

 

Marinette opens Chat’s snap, thinking it’s just going to be a blurry picture of the wall or of his half-eaten lunch, but what she gets makes her stare at her phone in shock instead.

He did it.

He finally broke the no selfie streak.

Her stomach does a little flip and she’s shocked to realize her first thought was the ever so cliche ‘oh no, he’s cute’. Obviously the black mask still covers his face, but to sit in her room and gaze at the face of Chat Noir without a magic barrier, she’s in total shock and awe. The caption of the first picture nearly escapes her notice she’s so transfixed on the fact that Chat’s eyes are actually green.

Not cat-like and slitted, bright green, but a green that sparkles all on its own. That being said, she knows Snapchat filters brighten and enlarge people’s eyes, but even knowing that, she idly thinks his eyes are as captivating as Adrien’s are, and then she has to shake that thought from her head.

The second picture reveals more of the boy’s joking nature, and she very nearly rolls her eyes at his exaggerated pose. His statements are taken as joking flirtations, knowing that’s just how he is, but the pictures are important to her, and suddenly it’s very important that she respond as soon as possible.

“Alya!”

“Girl, I am /right/ here, you do not need to yell at me.”

There’s a sheepish laugh from Marinette, before she pulls up the screen to take her own selfie. “He sent me… He sent me a selfie.”

The relief in Alya’s entire being is palpable, and she breathes out a ‘Finally!’ before moving closer to her best friend to fix her pigtails. She thought her two friends were idiots /before/ all this identity nonsense, but them dancing around each other like this is both annoying and entertaining. These days she really isn’t sure whether she wants to laugh or cry about it.

Unfortunately for her, it seems her best friend isn’t done chickening out on her yet. Marinette doesn’t end up sending Chat a selfie back as her reply, instead choosing a more recent sketch that she has yet to show him. They gently argue about it, but Alya ends up relenting, rolling her eyes as she tries to think of more ways to push the pair together without being completely obvious about it.

The rest of lunch plays out uneventfully, for all parties. Alya and Marinette eat in the bakery, and Adrien returns to Nino in a sore mood when Ladybug’s response isn’t a selfie of her own. All four of them end up back in class a little less enthusiastic than they were before the lunch period started. Nino’s mood could be chalked up to nerves about asking out Alya, even with his friend’s support, while Alya is annoyed with Marinette for her lack of courage.

And yet by the end of the day Nino has done it. Adrien nudges him after class and Marinette catches the blond’s eyes, muttering some excuse to leave Alya behind in the classroom. The pair quietly wait in the locker room until their best friends arrive, and they break off into their normal pairs, Marinette a little worse for wear after trying to stammer through a conversation with her crush.

Alya and Nino have their spirits restored though, and Alya lords the fact that she’s finally upheld her side of the deal over Marinette’s head. To which Marinette responds by merely sticking her tongue out at her friend.

 

* * *

 

The next day arrives, much to all of their excitement and nervousness. The day of the date. Alya comes over to Marinette’s early so they can help each other get ready. Alya doing Marinette’s hair and makeup while Marinette helps Alya pick from the outfits she brought over.

Right before they’re set to leave to meet the boys, Marinette notices a missed alert on her phone… A snap from Chat. She stares down at the little screen for a moment, before deciding that she doesn’t need to be distracted by that right now. She can message him back later, /after/ the date. So she slips her phone into her purse and the girls head out.

The pair is at a loss as to what the boys actually have planned for the date, only knowing that they asked to meet at the park near Marinette’s house. When the girls step up to the gates the boys are already there, Adrien glancing over to the bronze statue of the Parisian superhero duo, and Nino nervously on the lookout for Alya.

He blushes immediately upon seeing her, bringing a hand up in a wave and awkwardly elbowing Adrien to catch his attention. The blond looks over at them then, smiling and waving as well, right up until they get close enough to actually greet each other.

Once greetings are out of the way, Adrien informs the girls that they were thinking of going to the zoo again, considering the way things went last time. After hearing what Nino had to say about what happened with him and Alya and the freaking cage incident, he thought it might be cute to have their first official date there, where it all started. Besides, they didn’t really get to see any animals, what with the akuma running around. And, no, the akuma didn’t count as seeing the animals.

So they start walking, as it isn’t a bad walk and the weather was nice. Adrien casually hangs back as Alya and Nino start to walk, and Marinette takes it as her cue to walk with him, if only to give their friends that slight alone time to talk.

The walk isn’t more than fifteen minutes, but Adrien checks his phone no less than six times. Marinette knows because she counted each time. It’s like a poke in the gut, making her think that he has someone else he would have rather been spending his time with. It only makes her stuttering worse, and she can’t manage to hold a conversation with him through the walk.

She tries of course, but it’s nothing too substantial, just a muttered compliment about his outfit at first, trying to find some common ground to talk about that isn’t school. The light jacket is cool, a sleek design, just what she would expect from his father, and the green accents make his eyes stand out.

It doesn’t work like she wants, considering she can barely get the words out, and him just checking his phone again after a confused ‘thanks, Marinette’ makes her think of her own phone, her own unread message, and she ends up looking at her lock screen every time she catches Adrien doing it, both for something to do, and to see if Chat ever decided to snap her again.

She /is/ curious as to what the snap is, because he had told her last night that his date was actually today as well, and she wonders if it’s a picture of him before he left or a picture of wherever he and his friend took their dates.

By the time they finally arrive at the zoo, the date has barely begun and Marinette is wishing she could make up her mind about whether she was ready for it to be over so she could snap her partner, or whether she was more annoyed that she can’t seem to start up a real conversation with Adrien.

Marinette tries to settle herself though, because Alya and Nino seem to already be having a great time. Even as they approach the first exhibit, the pair is happily laughing and smiling at each other, the blush never having faded from Nino’s cheeks for long. The secret superheroine steels herself, because this is for her best friend! No matter how awkward it is! And… it’s also a little for her, because how is she ever going to marry Adrien if she can’t even talk to him. They’re on a date for goodness sake! Even if he did only ask her to help out Nino, she’s going to make the most of the situation.

So she takes a deep breath and looks over at the blond only to be deflated at the sight of him checking his phone again.

It continues on like this for a while, Marinette smiling anytime Alya looks back at her, but frowning every time she glances at Adrien’s divided attention. She offers to go grab everyone ice cream from a vendor, only to be quickly shut down by Nino and Adrien, the boys insisting they’ll be the ones to get it for them. 

Alya is sweet enough not to mention how she’s obviously noticed Marinette’s situation as well, but she gives the girl a tight hug and a soft ‘thanks’ for sticking it out for her.

It’s only when the boys return and Nino drags Alya off to the cage they were stuck in that Marinette finds the courage to speak up about it all.

“Uhm… Adrien?”

“Yeah, Marinette?” He immediately looks up at her, slipping the phone back in his pocket. She melts at his attention.

“I, uh, well, I just- you’re checking- is everything okay?” She takes another deep breath; such a simple question shouldn’t take so much out of her.

“Everything’s fine, why do you ask?”

“You just… You seem…” She trails off before squeaking out, “Distracted?”

Adrien’s face falls then, and he looks both shocked and apologetic. “I’m sorry, I guess I have been a little distracted. I just- It’s nothing serious, nothing to worry about. I guess I’m just waiting on a reply back from my friend?”

Marinette is quick to shake her head. “It’s okay! I just wanted to make sure everything was alright. I don’t mind if you need to go call your friend or something, if it’s that important.” She glances down at her bag where her own phone sits, having been checking it nearly as much as Adrien had been checking his.

“Are… you okay, Marinette? You’ve also been checking your phone a lot, and I know you probably didn’t want to be dragged out here to spend the day with me. I’m really thankful you agreed though.”

The young girl’s cheeks go bright red and she’s a little too adamant about shaking her head again. “No! I mean! Yes! I’m fine, nothing’s wrong. I just- I don’t mind spending the day with you. I- We’re- I mean, we’re friends right? I don’t mind doing this for Alya and Nino. They should be happy.” And that came out wrong, and yet, Adrien doesn’t seem as worried anymore. She didn’t mean to imply that she’s only doing this for Alya and Nino, that she’s only tolerating his company for them, but he doesn’t seem to take it that way.

“Yeah. We are friends. I’m glad, Marinette, you’re a good friend. I know we got off to a rocky start, what with Chloe and all that. But… You were my first friend at school. I’m sorry I’m distracted, I’ll put my phone away for the rest of the day, promise.” He gives her that smile again, the one that always seems to catch her off-guard and make her forget about everything else for a little bit. So why does it remind her of someone else this time?

“Y-yeah. I… I will too.” She tentatively returns his smile and then they set off again in search of Alya and Nino.


	6. Chapter 6

The rest of the zoo trip is fairly uneventful. Marinette manages to stumble her way through speaking with Adrien and everything seems to be going great with Nino and Alya. So when they’re done they decide to head to a nearby cafe for dinner, not really ready to part ways, but having exhausted their entertainment at the zoo.

They sit down and order their food and Marinette finds herself itching to check her phone again. It bothers her that she isn’t sure where this need to see came from. A part of her thinks it’s because she’s just curious by nature and wants to know what he sent, but another part of her doesn’t like the fact that she’s basically ignored her partner all day.

Adrien has stayed true to his word though and kept his phone in his pocket, even if she has caught him placing his hand over said pocket, presumably to feel if it’s vibrating or not.

It’s only once the meal is nearly over that Marinette excuses herself to the bathroom.

She looks in the mirror and feels the overwhelming urge to splash water on her face to help clear her head, but knows that all of Alya’s efforts into her makeup would be ruined if she did so, so she refrains.

She does open her purse to grab her phone though, only to be stopped by Tikki.

“I thought you promised Adrien you weren’t going to check your phone?”

She guiltily looks at her little red friend, fingers toying with the clasp of her purse. “It’s been /hours/ though, Tikki. I just want to know what it is that Chat sent.”

“He hasn’t sent anything since this morning so it must not have been that important, Marinette. Can’t it wait? Go have fun on your date!”

Even as Tikki says it, her phone vibrates and she quickly grabs for it, much to Tikki’s disapproval. But it’s not a snap from Chat, it’s a text from Alya. ‘Hey girl, you alright in there? We’re paying now, meet you out front!’

Marinette sighs, typing out a quick reply. ‘Be out in a sec!’

“I might as well open it since I have my phone open now…”

“Marineeeette.”

Tikki’s call of her name goes unheeded and unanswered as Marinette checks the picture her partner sent. And she nearly drops the phone. “You /stupid/ cat.”

It’s another picture of him, but… without the magic to back it up, it’s painfully obvious what she’s been missing.

The caption is simple, another teasing flirtation, ‘Ready for my date, am I killing it or what?’

And he’s got that big, stupid grin on his face, eyebrows up like he was wiggling them and forgot he wasn’t actively recording as opposed to just taking the still image. His hair isn’t all mussed up though, and he isn’t wearing just a nondescript black t-shirt. As an aspiring fashion designer, Marinette pays attention to one thing above all else. Wardrobe. And that outfit is the exact one that she muttered out a compliment about when she saw Adrien earlier this morning.

“You stupid, idiotic cat!”

“Marinette?”

“It’s- it’s him! He- what!” And before she can even think to fully wrap her mind around this connection, her brain does a sudden leap and makes a separate one. “Alya… Alya’s the one who found him out. That’s why she was so adamant about me talking to him! Argh! Why wouldn’t she just tell me that! Ooh! She is in /so much/ trouble.”

Before Tikki has a chance to say anything to calm her charge, she gets swept up in Marinette’s purse as she storms out of the bathroom and right out to the outside of the restaurant where her friends are waiting.

Completely ignoring the boys she goes right up to Alya.

“You! You! Alya!” She’s fuming, confused and annoyed and /just why would her best friend push her into talking to Chat when she knew Chat was Adrien instead of just telling her that herself/? The other three teens are, understandably, caught off guard. “You knew this whole time! And you just let me talk about both of them! Why would you go to him first? I thought you would tell me if you ever- aahhh Alya!” She isn’t making any sense, but Alya’s face morphs into an expression of understanding.

“Whoa, cool it Mari. I don’t think this is the best place for this conversation.”

“What conversation?” Nino helpfully chimes in, looking over at Adrien to confirm he was equally as lost; he is.

“Oh no- you don’t get to tell me to cool it! You kept this from me! I let you in on the biggest secret of my life and you find him before me and /don’t/ tell me?!”

“You didn’t let me in on anything! That was an accident! And so was finding him! Marinette, this /really/ isn’t the place for this.” Alya is right, they’re gathering a little attention with all the yelling, and Marinette glances over at Adrien, her cheeks immediately coloring.

“Fine. You’re right. This isn’t the place. I’m going home.” She quickly turns away, and yet Alya reaches out and stops her, grabbing her arm.

“I don’t think you should go home alone.”

Marinette just rolls her eyes. “I’ll be /fine/, Alya. You of all people, know I can handle myself.”

But Alya isn’t letting this go without some damn resolution. “No, you’re upset, and we all know what happens to people who experience high emotions in Paris.” She pointedly looks over at Adrien. “Walk her home, make sure she’s okay.”

“Alya-!”

“Okay.” Adrien may not have put the pieces together yet, but he knows what Alya is implying. He’s Chat Noir and there’s no way in hell that he’s going to let Marinette become akumatized. Not on his watch; she’s the nicest person he knows, and probably also the strongest, like hell does he want to fight her.

Marinette’s face just gets even more red and she turns away from them again. “Fine, whatever. Let’s just go.” And then she starts walking, not even sure if Adrien is actually following or not.

But of course he is, and after a moment he falls into step next to her, awkwardly starting a conversation that he doesn’t even realize he’s starting. “Marinette? Are you okay? I… don’t really know what that was about, but Alya wouldn’t purposefully hurt you.”

“You think I don’t know that?” She snapped at him, and she sees him flinch slightly from the corner of her eye and she sighs. It’s not his fault this is happening. Not his fault he unknowingly revealed himself to her. Oh… Oh crap… He /unknowingly/ revealed himself to her. She knows she’s walking next to Chat Noir, but he has no idea he’s walking next to Ladybug. His Lady.

“Sorry… I didn’t mean-” She sighs. “Alya has just… She found something out about me, and then she found something out about… my friend. But she didn’t tell me she knew this about him? Instead she just, pushed me into into trying to talk to him about it in a really roundabout way? And made it harder for all of us. I just don’t understand why she wouldn’t /tell/ me.”

Alya… is really good about finding out secrets. First his, and now Marinette and some other friend of hers? Marinette seems really upset about this… He isn’t sure how to help without any more context though, so he starts thinking back to everything that she was yelling about outside the restaurant.

It doesn’t seem to help though.

“Maybe she thought it was something that would be better for you to find out on your own?” Like Ladybug and their game. They /could/ come outright and just say who they are, meet up and take off the masks… But would that really be best for them? Wasn’t this whole game just a way for them to really get to know each other? Maybe that’s what Alya wanted for Marinette and her friend.

Marinette stops walking, both hands pulling at her pigtails and she groans and stares up at the sky. It’s growing dark rather rapidly, and it’s getting colder. He slips his jacket off his shoulders and places it around Marinette’s instead, not wanting her to get sick on top of all this. The motion seems to draw her attention to him, and her cheeks heat up again as she stares at him.

“Maybe…” She admits. And then softer. “Thanks, kitten.”

“No prob-” Wait what. Did… Did Marinette just-? Except he isn’t sure he can trust his own hearing because he’s not in the suit and she’s generally mumbly around him anyway? And now she’s turning away from him, starting to walk in the general direction of the bakery again.

He takes a few longer steps to catch up with her again, looking at her curiously but not commenting on /what might not even be what he thought she said/. “Are… you feeling any better?” Calmer, he means, but he doesn’t want that to come off as rude.

Meanwhile Marinette is having an internal panic attack. Did she seriously just call Adrien Agreste ‘kitten’? God, that was so stupid, she can’t drop the bomb on him like that! She’s so absorbed in her thoughts about it that she doesn’t even realize Adrien spoke up again, and she certainly doesn’t realize what exactly hit her when there’s a sharp pain on her forehead.

A pole. A pole is what hit her.

She was so far in her own headspace about calling her crush by a dumb pet name, that she walked right into a lightpost.

“Marinette! Oh my god, are you okay?”

“Oooww, yeah. I’m- ugh, I’m just clumsy, madly clumsy, all the time.” Her brow is furrowed, which might be making it worse, and she brings her hands up to press against her forehead. It’s surely going to be at least a little bruised by tomorrow.

There’s a flicker of recognition on Adrien’s face, but the familiar phrase is only enough to make it seem /familiar/. There’s something he’s missing and he knows it, but he can’t really focus on that when Marinette is in this situation. He steps in closer to her, pulling away her hands to get a look at her forehead. “Hey, let me see. Is the skin broken?”

It doesn’t look like it, no blood, no scratch even, just a small bump.

Marinette can feel Tikki pushing against her leg through the fabric of her purse, and she isn’t sure if her kwami is trying to push her into confessing to Adrien about their identities, or if she’s merely trying to make sure Marinette is okay.

“I’m okay. It doesn’t hurt that bad. I think it just surprised me more than anything. Really, one little bump is nothing.” But her reassurance doesn’t stop Tikki’s pushing, so she’s guessing it was the former of the options. “Hey… Adrien…”

“Hmm, what is it Marinette? Are you sure you’re alright?”

She nods slightly, before turning to make a slight detour through the park by her house, the one that they met at earlier that day. “What… do you think of Ladybug?” She remembers catching him staring at the statue when she arrived, something that makes more sense now than it did then. And suddenly she feels very bad about not telling him as soon as she found out… Maybe he and Alya /are/ right. Maybe it was only ever going to work if they found out on their own.

That thought and her next one don’t really match up all that well though. And yet she’s decided how to let her partner know that he’s lost their little bet.

“What do I think of her? She’s amazing. Kind and strong and beautiful-” He at least has the humility to blush at saying that part out loud, even if he can’t wipe the dumb smile off his face. But then it is gone, replaced with a look of concern for /her/. “You didn’t really answer me, you know… Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah… Uh… I know we promised no more phones today, but… Can I make an exception? Just really quick?”

“Sure, Marinette. Do whatever you need to.” He still looks confused, and that look only intensifies when she holds her phone right up. There’s a click of the camera, and he makes a confused little noise. “Mari?”

“One sec. One sec and you’ll understand.” She swipes, putting the proper filter on him, and pauses before outright sending it to him. A split second of hesitation before she puts a caption. ‘I’ve won our little game of snap/chat/ ;D’

Send.

She waits for a moment, she puts her phone back in her purse, and she just looks at him. The utterly lost look on his face isn’t an expression she’s gleamed before, and despite how mad she was at Alya for keeping this from her, she thinks watching his face as he opens that picture is going to be completely worth forgiving her over.

Except he doesn’t pull his phone out of his pocket, he just stares at her for a minute, and then utters her name again. “Mari….nette? You’re being a little weird… -er than normal.”

“Oh my god, just open your stupid phone!”

His hand slips into his pocket, showing he’s received a snap from Ladybug. It’s not one he missed. It was less than a minute old. His stomach churns as he stares over at Marinette for a second… But she’s looking at him worriedly, and he swipes open the notification.

He doesn’t know why he’s actually surprised when it’s a picture of him. He /watched/ her take the stupid thing. And despite the digital mask and ears, his expression is decidedly un-Chat-like. Because he was looking at her like she had lost her mind and Alya had told him to get her home and Alya’s wrath at disobeying her was actually something he feared. It’s not something he’s fearing right now though.

Because it’s her.

Marinette.

And he’s an idiot.

He bragged about going on a date with her. To her!

“I tried to make you jealous by talking about the date I was going to have with you!”

“You… you were trying to make me jealous?”

“I mean- I wanted- No! Wait, yes! Ugh.” He drags his hands down his face, phone slipped back into his pocket. “I was jealous that you said you had a date, so…”

“So you sent me that picture.” And then, almost exactly as it had happened all those night ago on patrol, they slowly started laughing. Marinette first, with Adrien looking at her questioningly before joining in. “Chat- /Adrien/. That’s how I found out. That stupid picture.”

“Hey! It wasn’t stupid, I was totally rockin’ my outfit!” He doesn’t sound offended though, still laughing with her. Their laughter dies down though, and he steps closer to her again, readjusting his jacket over her shoulders seeing as how she never properly slid her arms into it. “And now you are.”

That shuts her up real quick. Because as much as she likes to laugh with her partner, he’s still Adrien Agreste, and he’s still very close to her without his mask, and that is very new to her. Her cheeks are a deep pink, and her hands grab onto the openings of the jacket, holding it closer around her. “I-”

“Marinette. My Lady.”

Hearing that name out of his mouth is surreal, and she isn’t sure she’s ready for it yet, a little squeak popping out of her. Which only makes him laugh softly, and makes her give him a little glare.

“Can I… Can I kiss you, Marinette?”

Her face has never been hotter and she really isn’t sure what to say to that. Does she admit to wanting to kiss him? He’s /Chat/, the boy she’s been pushing away since she first met him. And he’s /Adrien/ the boy she’s so nervous around that she can’t even speak real words to. She’s stuck, not sure how to react, not sure if this is okay or if they need to talk more or if she even wants this because really, /she has not been given enough time to process any of this and yet he wants to kiss her/??

A glance at him shows his own nerves though, and he looks like he’s about to pull away so she reaches out for him before he can, her hands moving from his jacket to him, and her mouth opening only for no sound to come out still, before she shuts it again.

Her movement seems to reassure him though, and he gives her a soft smile, a soft blush overtaking his own features. “I… can’t believe… you revealed yourself with a pun. I’ve never been so purr-oud.” He laughs again and she lets go of him only to lightly punch his arm.

“Hey! We had a deal- no puns for a week!”

“Ow! You were serious about that?” He exaggeratedly rubs at his arm where she hit him, grinning the whole time.

“You’re lucky I’m not extending the punishment considering you still got a date out of me, you mangy cat!”

“There she is.” He’s grinning madly, still incredibly close to her, even if they aren’t actually touching anymore. And she just raises a brow at the statement, before, “That’s the Ladybug I know.”

And all he gets is an eye-roll for that. And then a blush as she quickly looks away from him. “You know, it makes a lot more sense that we were both caught the same way now. Alya and her ever-present phone.” She shakes her head, thinking back to what landed them in this mess to begin with.

“She’s a good friend.” He pauses, but when Marinette doesn’t immediately speak up, he does. “Are you still mad at her for not telling you about me?”

Guilt hits Marinette like a punch to the stomach. Is that… how it came off? Or, maybe… is that how it really was? She yelled at Alya for not spilling someone else’s secret? Her /partner’s/ secret. That… wasn’t nice.

She was just so caught up in how /she/ felt about it, that she didn’t stop and think about how he would feel. Or even how Alya would feel, being put in the middle like that.

She quickly shakes her head. “No! I- I didn’t mean… I was just hurt to find out you were so close, I guess? She… She was right not to out you. I shouldn’t have yelled at her for that. I- I was just-”

“Surprised.” He nods, taking this all remarkably well. “Honestly, I think I might be in shock about it. I never thought you would be so close either.” He laughs again, “And here I was, thinking I had the short end of the stick because I don’t exactly have a low-profile as a civilian. Didn’t really matter in the end, not when we’re in the same class.”

“I should apologize.”

“I should thank her.”

They speak at the same time almost, and blink dumbly at each other for a moment before smiling.

“I have an idea.” Marinette’s mouth stretches into a bigger grin and she pulls out her phone again, before turning to stand at Adrien’s side as opposed to stay facing him.

He quirks up a brow but doesn’t say anything, figuring he wasn’t going to talk his partner out of any of her plans. It’s not really a surprise to him when she pulls up Snapchat again, and he can see where this is going.

A selfie is taken, because that’s how it all started. Marinette thinks it’s fitting to finish it all out that way. Alya found out about both of them through the app, they found out about each other through the app, and it’s only right to let Alya know her patience paid off through it as well.

So the pair snap the picture, swiping until the masks line up over their faces, and Marinette types out a simple caption of ‘Sorry Alya, thank you <3’.

And somewhere else in Paris, said redhead screams out a ‘Finally!!’ while her date stands next to her in confusion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yoooo this is officially finished now!! :D  
> thanks to everyone who stuck with it despite the fact that I kept changing how long I was gonna make it lmao
> 
> thanks to my friend summer for the idea, and extra thanks to my friend hannah for reading these last few chapters and giving me feedback before I post, she totally helped shape the ending even if she didn't mean to lmao
> 
> I loved reading all your comments and I'm sorry if I didn't get to reply to yours I still appreciate it regardless!! :D


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